Astronaut arrested for attempted murder

[Jejune]

ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- A NASA astronaut charged with pepper-spraying and trying to kidnap a romantic rival was granted bail Tuesday, but her release was delayed after police announced they were filing an attempted murder charge against her, a corrections department spokesman said.

Navy Capt. Lisa Marie Nowak had already paid her bail on three other charges when she learned that she would not be released because Orlando police were planning to add attempted murder to the list, said Allen Moore, a spokesman for the Orange County Corrections Department.

Nowak will remain in protective custody until her first appearance on the new charge, Moore said. She was scheduled to appear before a judge Tuesday afternoon.

You can read the rest here (http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/02/06/astronaut.arrested/index.html).

What a sad and bizarre story. The woman arrested is a mother of three.

[Christi]

This just blows my mind!! How could they not have discovered that she was ummm, a few forks short of a full drawer, during their testing????

[Kristen]

christi....apparently this was very unexpected. Her fellow astronauts said they were really perplexed.

[off-kilter]

I've been watching this. So bizarre!

[Stacy]

She just lost it!

[Christi]

oh, really? I hadn't heard that!

[Jo]

I just can't get past the whole diaper thing....

[Desirae]

They do say that people under such high-stress jobs snap in a very bad way when they snap.

[malcontent]

I find this story chilling. She was planning something gruesome.

Here's a quote from NYT:
"Captain Nowak was in disguise at the time, wearing a wig, the police said. She had with her a compressed air pistol, a steel mallet, a knife, pepper spray, four feet of rubber tubing, latex gloves and garbage bags.”

It is frightening how easily psychopaths can slip through psychological screening, but apparently many are quite skilled at affecting a normal persona.

[Jejune]

I'm feeling pretty strongly for her children. How disturbing to suddenly lose your mother, and to find out all this about her in the same stroke.

[Kristi]

I agree Kristen. Poor kids. And the diaper thing how strange. She just went crazy the whole things seems so strange.

[off-kilter]

Actually, the diaper thing almost makes sense. In her line of work, they use diapers on some flights as they don't make full plumbing accomadations when they cannot get up to go.

It just freaks me out that she was so intent on "talking" to this other girl that she felt it warrented that kind of non-stop concentration.